Economic evaluation of different hormonal therapies for prostate cancer. Final results from the Quality of Life Antiandrogen Blockade Italian Observational Study (QuABIOS)

Objective: The paper compares costs and Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) of differ ent hormonal therapies (HTs) administered to 275 out of 471 patients with prostate can cer (PC) enrolled in the Quality of Life Antiandrogen Blockade Italian Observational Study (QuABIOS), who did not change HT during the study period. Methods: QALYs and costs related to monoHT with: cyproterone acetate (CYP) (42 patients); bicalutamide (BIC) (41 patients); LHRH-a (96 patients) and complete androgenic block ade (CAB) with: CYP (CYP CAB) (50 patients); BIC (BIC CAB) (46 patients) were compared via a cost-utility analysis (CUA) adopting the Italian National Healthcare Service (INHS) viewpoint. Results: As no statistical significant difference among the mean QALYs gained with the different HTs was detected (p = 0.116), CUA was replaced by a cost minimization analysis (CMA). However, the lowest and the highest mean QALYs gained per patient were registered for BIC CAB (0.59; 95% CI: 0.50; 0.68) and for for CYP (0.75; 95% CI: 0.68; 0.82), respectively. CYP was the least costly HT, reaching the lowest and the highest savings when compared to LHRH-a (-Euros 974.99; 95% CI: -Euros 1066.86; -Euros 883.12; p